Your VP, Senator.  What Will “He” Be Like?  —  Sen. Barack Obama usually describes his vice presidential nominee with two pronouns joined by a conjunction... “he or she.”  Tonight, in North Carolina, according to CBS News's Maria Gavrilovic, Obama was gender specific.

Obama and McCain in a statistical tie  —  People watch as Sen. Obama arrives at the Sheraton hotel today in Raleigh North Carolina.  McCain and his allies have portrayed Obama in recent weeks as a naive celebrity who is unprepared to lead the nation in dangerous times.

Rachel Maddow to Replace Dan Abrams on MSNBC  —  Rachel Maddow, shown filling in for Keith Olbermann on “Countdown” last month.  Ms. Maddow will host the 9 p.m. hour beginning Sept. 8.  (Ress Greenberg/ New York Times)  —  Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election …

MOVING TIME....I have some news to share: on Friday, after four wonderful years at the Washington Monthly, I'll be picking up my keyboard and moving to a new blog at Mother Jones magazine.  Here's the new URL: … There nothing there yet except for a welcome message, but starting on Friday, that's where I'll be blogging full time.

Talk of McCain's No. 2 Concerns Conservatives  —  LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Senator John McCain is facing increasing scrutiny about his selection of a running mate as some social conservatives expressed alarm on Tuesday that Mr. McCain might ask a candidate who favors abortion rights to join him on the ticket.

Two Against The One  —  In the dead of night in a small hideaway office in the deserted Capitol, a clandestine meeting takes place between two senators with one goal.  —  They grin at each other as they lift their celebratory shots of brutally cold Stolichnaya.

Keeping it in the family  —  Following the lead of political families like the Strogers and Lipinskis, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones is anointing one of his children to take over for him when he retires in January.  —  Jones, 72, began the process of handing off his Senate seat …

McClellan to Obama: Don't investigate us  —  Scott McClellan advises Obama, in an interview with my colleague Daniel Libit, not to investigate the Bush administration — because it would, McClellan says, damage Obama's image.  (Not that former Bushies have anything at stake in that choice.)

Obama Campaign to Brody File: Infanticide Suggestion “Offensive and Insulting”  —  As you know, we here at The Brody File pride ourselves on laying out both sides of an argument and letting you, the readers come to your own conclusions.  Hence, let's delve into the aftermath …

Bigfoot claim a fake, ex-enthusiast says  —  ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — The Bigfoot in the freezer is made of rubber, a Web posting asserted Tuesday.  —  The initial promoter of two hikers' claim that they found the body of Bigfoot in Georgia said he has determined that the discovery was a hoax.

Russia Never Wanted a War  —  THE acute phase of the crisis provoked by the Georgian forces' assault on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, is now behind us.  But how can one erase from memory the horrifying scenes of the nighttime rocket attack on a peaceful town, the razing of entire city blocks …

University won't open Obama-related records now  —  WASHINGTON - The University of Illinois on Tuesday refused to release records relating to Barack Obama's service to a nonprofit group linked to former 1960s radical activist William Ayers.  —  The university's Chicago campus said the donor …